Hose-pkotectok



UNITED sTATEs EAENT oEEioE.

C. BRIDGES AND D. P. DIETERICH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

HOSE-PROTECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 30,199, dated October 2, 1860.

To alt whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, IV. C. BRIDGES and D. P. DIETERIGH, both of the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Hose- Protector; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Our invention consists of two sheets of gum elastic or other equivalent flexible material fastened together at one end, the lower sheet being furnished with transverse strips, and the whole being' constructed and applied to the rails of a track substantially as described hereafter, so that the hose placed between the two sheets may remain uninjured, and the flow of water through the hose may not be interrupted, as the wheels pass over the protector, which does not interfere with the direct course of the cars.

In order to enable others to make and use our invention, we will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

On reference to the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification, Figure l is a side View of our improved hose protector; Fig. 2, the same showing the wheel of a car passing over the protector; Fig. 3, a ground plan.

Our improved hose protector consists of an upper sheet A and lower sheet B, of vulcanized gum elastic, gum, cloth, gutta-percha, leather, or other lieXible material capable of yielding slightly under pressure. If made of ordinary vulcanized gum elastic the sheets may be about half an inch thick, from two to three feet long, and from ten to twelve inches wide. The two sheets are connected together at one end by rivets or other suitable attachments, the opposite ends being disconnected so that the upper sheet may be readily folded back from the lower sheet. To the latter are secured any convenient number of transverse strips a, a, which may be composed of the saine material as the sheets, or of any other equivalent substance, the distance between the strips being more than suiiicient to admit an ordinary hose, such as used in connection with fire engines.

When a fire occurs in the neighborhood of streets having' railways traversed by passenger cars, much annoyance is experienced I hose crossing the track,

flanges of the wheels,

the progress of the interrupted, as the would cut and othercars being necessarily wise damage the hose.

The object of our invention has been to remedy this evil and to devise a simple, portable and eflicient instrument to be carried on the cars, and to be so applied to the track crossed by the hose,'that the cars can continue their course without interruption and without fear of being thrown from the track.

Two of the hose protectors above described are placed one on one rail and the other on the opposite rail of the track, (the relative position of the opposite protector depending upon the angle at which the hose crosses the track), the upper sheet A is then folded back and the lower sheet B placed beneath the hose, each branch of which is deposited in one of the spaces between two 0f the transverse ribs a, o, the upper sheet is then folded down, and the cars allowed to proceed.

Owing to the yielding nature of the material of which the protector is composed the flange of the wheel will make a temporary indentation in it, in a line directly above that in which the flange would traverse in the absence of the protector so that although the wheels are raised to a considerable height above the rails, they have no tendency to leave the track but on the contrary are maintained in their proper lateral position as they pass over the protector. As the wheel passes above each branch of hose the latter will be partially compresed as seen in Fig. 2, not to such an extent however as to injure the hose or interfere with the ow of water through the same.

The transverse strips a serve the double purpose of maintaining each branch which crosses the track separate from the other, and of preventing an inordinate compression of the hose.

It will be observed that the opposite ends of the protector are beveled or tapered gradually to a point so as not to present abrupt obstructions to the wheels, by which the protector would otherwise be displaced.

W'e claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent The within described hose protector, composed of two sheets of gum elastic or other names to this specification, in the presence of suitable flexible material, connected together two subscribing witnesses. i at one end the lower sheet beino furnished with transiferse ribs a, a, and thx whole be- 1(3) 5 ing constructed and applied substantially in the manner herein set forth for the purpose Witnesses: specified. H. HoWsoN,

In testimony whereof, we have signed our JOHN WHITE. 1| 

